Chapter 31 - Sister Casta
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As Leon was feeling the painful effects of cultivating without using the Blood Essence Crystals, the System suddenly gave out a sudden prompt as it loudly warned Leon.
[Alert! A major unfortunate event has taken place. The User has been detected by a high leveled light mage.]
[Judging from the extremely dense aura of the light mage, the enemy may possibly be a battle mage capable of both attack and healing magic. The User must try to get as far away as much as possible.]
Leon's concentration state broke down as soon as he heard the System's message. Cold shivers ran across his body as Leon suddenly realized that his new-found happy and enjoyable life could very well be on the path of destruction, possibly resulting in his death.
He remembered having been warned by the System before regarding the same situation that his powers would really be impacted upon any confrontation with the light mage. Leon wasn't a complete idiot and was able to detect something from the way that the System had been operating. His hunch was that it had a lot to do with the darker forces of nature.
Not that he had anything against the System regarding that, as anything that worked in his favor would be very acceptable to him. In his previous life, he had done a number of things that would get him to be shunned across the entire world. He might even be classified as an evil being or something. Regardless, Leon had always focused more on his own goals and his own survival than the nature of the means used to achieve those goals.
In this current situation, however, the nature of his newfound powers was about to bring him a lot of trouble. Knowing that continuing to cultivate like this would be akin to jumping into the open maws of a famished lion, since he would be declaring himself to be the source of the Yin energy.
Leon immediately ceased the circulation of his pure Spiritual Qi and the 'Devil King's Cultivation Manual'. He then stood up from his cultivating posture and decided to get away from that place as soon as possible, since any random passerby who saw him lazing around in a desolate section of the City like the Execution Plaza so late at night would certainly not have a very good opinion of him for sure.
His line of thought was correct, however, there was something else that he failed to notice. His leg suddenly cramped and became sore when he stood up to run away. He learned the lesson the hard way, as his foot slipped over a rock, resulting in him falling flat on his face, onto the hard ground. His body was still not completely resistant to physical injuries and due to the sudden impact, his body gained some significant injuries on his face and his limbs.
The pain was no doubt absolutely manageable by Leon. He tried to get back up on his feet as he desired to continue running toward his home. But when he looked up, he realized that he wasn't the only person in the plaza anymore.
There was a woman standing next to him who was looking at him with a very curious look. Leon found out that the aura surrounding the woman was not normal as he could detect signs of majesty and innocence from it... It was as if she was an angel that had descended from the heavens to get a curious look at the lifestyle of the mortals.
As Leon subconsciously noted the woman's features he realized that she had smooth hair which flowed freely over her shoulders with almost waist-level length. Her hair was a mixture of pure white and cream-white color.
Her violet-colored eyes happened to be the only colorful feature on her body, as her skin tone was pale white. She was dressed entirely in a black colored dress that covered most of her body and left a lot of room for imagination. The clothes had a white stripe at the very ends of the fabric giving her body a monotone kind of feeling.
Even if the clothes did little justice to the beauty of the woman, she still carried herself with a graceful demeanor that was rarely ever found in any woman.
Even her breasts size couldn't be accurately guessed through her clothes, however, Leon estimated them to be above B-cup from his past experiences. Her body was radiating a vibe of serenity and compassion while something about her kept erupting the feeling of dread from somewhere within his body.
The woman held out her left hand towards Leon as she spoke,
"Are you okay down there? The injuries on your body seem rather severe, especially on your face and hands."
Leon's main worries were regarding the System being exposed and being executed by a high leveled mage. Fortunately for him, she didn't seem to have detected anything abnormal about him, since she had chosen to ask about the well-being of his body rather than about what he was doing in a desolate place like this so late at night.
Leon tried to put on a goofy and harmless look on his face as he smiled bashfully at the woman and spoke to her,
"My apologies to bother you like this. I had somehow lost my way earlier during my routine night walks, which ended up having me being chased around by some thieves. It was due to your arrival that they all ran away. Thank you for saving my life, gracious lady."
The woman stood still as she thought about something before she looked around herself, examining every little detail. After that, she shut her eyes closed as she tried to sense every being alive at a long distance.
While the woman was still distracted, the System swiftly gave Leon a notification,
[User. I inform you very regretfully that it is game over for you. You have unfortunately encountered the bane of your existence. The System is unable to get you out of this situation.]
[However, as compensation, if you somehow survive this ordeal alive and well, you would be rewarded with a major reward. So, do your best to survive against the odds!]
[If you are lucky, then you would be able to hear from me again. Long talk short, I gotta bail myself out right now. Take care!]
After that last notification, the System went quiet and unresponsive no matter how much Leon tried to get some further details about his situation.
'That stupid System is most definitely a cowardly cat! Abandoning me at the first sign of trouble.. and it seems like I cannot interact with the Yin energy in the surroundings anymore.'
Leon complained mentally as he thought to himself about how to get out of the messed-up situation.
The woman soon opened her eyes and sighed in apparent disappointment as she muttered under her breath,
"That must have been that Demonic Fiend. Unfortunately, it seems to have gotten away again this time. Just how did it detect my presence? Does it have some means to detect my location?"
Even if the woman had meant to keep her mutterings private, Leon was able to hear her clearly. He sighed a breath of relief as he had hopefully prevented himself from being marked as a suspect. However, he still had to get away from the woman as soon as possible.
Leon opened his mouth and coughed in fake embarrassment, which successfully gained him the woman's attention, after which he spoke to her,
"Lady, I think that my injuries are not really anything serious to be worried about. On the other hand, it is already very late too. I don't think that it is safe for a woman to be wandering alone in a place like this. Who knows if we end up encountering some more devious criminals at any moment."
His words ended up shocking the woman as she stared at him with wide-open eyes. Her eyes softened considerably from her earlier state as she grasped Leon's shoulders and helped him to his feet.
She didn't release her grip on him though as her body froze for a bit. A strange sensation ran wild throughout her body as her heart started beating more vigorously.
Leon failed to notice the momentary change of expressions on her face though, as he was busy trying his best to appear as inconspicuous as possible. He wanted to avoid bringing any more unnecessary attention to himself, hence he tried to avoid any eye contact with the woman and looked down at his own feet.
The woman soon came out of her trance and started to scan all over Leon's body to find the reason for the weird sensation that she felt earlier. Sadly, she was unable to find anything of significance other than the recent scars that had appeared over his body due to his fall. And to add insult to injury, her ability classified him to be just an F-ranked mortal human being.
The woman sighed in disappointment and confusion as she was perplexed about the reason why she felt what she did. In the end, though, she calmed her mind and regained her demeanor before she spoke to him,
"Now that I think about it, this must be the first time that anyone has been worried about my safety. No need for you to be worried however since I am actually a lot stronger than I look."
This made Leon more curious about the woman and the itch to know her current level surfaced in his mind. Sadly, the System remained unresponsive to Leon's inquiries, supposedly entering a dormant state, which meant that he couldn't access most of his abilities including the status function. Leon himself felt slightly hindered due to how convenient the System had been making things for him.
He could only use his pure Spiritual Qi and the enhanced body strength that he had gained thanks to his cultivation so far.
'It is more apparent now than ever that I must start focusing more on increasing my cultivation levels rather than just lazily waiting for the daily sign-in rewards. Otherwise, I would be rendered absolutely helpless in the face of any true aggression.' Leon thought to himself as he momentarily lowered his guard in front of the woman.
The woman, however, was absolutely clueless regarding his thoughts as she further spoke to him,
"It is public knowledge by now and the reason why even most of my allies avoid being near me. One of the abilities that I possess helps me to be able to sense the inner hearts of others. I had that ever since my awakening and had helped me avoid many catastrophes ever since then."
"And, that ability of mine is giving me a very positive feeling from your heart. I know that we haven't interacted for long, however, my powers have all been blessed to me by the divine Goddess of Order herself."
"I trust in her blessings more than I trust my own mind. She is even so gracious as she has always answered my prayers, never neglecting me even once. By the way, my companions at the temple call me Sister Casta. What would your name be, traveler?"
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A/N: Thanks for reading so far, everyone. Let's hope to stay together till next fifty as well?